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The Trump administration has shut down the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), the first nationwide system for tracking misconduct by federal law enforcement officers, the Justice Department confirmedThursday.
The move, part of President Donald Trump’s broader efforts to reduce the size and cost of the federal government, has sparked criticism from police reform advocates, who argue the database played a vital role in preventing officers with records of misconduct from moving between agencies unnoticed.
The database, launched in December 2023, had already compiled thousands of disciplinary records from 90 federal agencies.
A Brief History: From Trump’s Proposal to Biden’s Implementation
The idea of a national police misconduct database first emerged under Trump’s own 2020 executive order on policing, following the murder of George Floyd. However, it was never enacted.
After President Joe Biden took office, his administration pushed for comprehensive police reform, but efforts stalled in Congress. In 2022, Biden issued an executive order establishing NLEAD, requiring all federal law enforcement agencies to report misconduct cases.
The database tracked records from nearly 150,000 officers, helping agencies screen new hires and identify problematic officers before they could move to another department with a clean slate.
Trump’s Executive Order Ends Police Misconduct Tracking
Upon returning to the White House, Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 revoking dozens of Biden-era policies, including those aimed at police reform.
His order shuttered NLEAD entirely, with the Justice Department confirming that as of Jan. 24, agencies could no longer access, query, or add data to the database.
A statement on the Justice Department’s website now reads:
“The U.S. Department of Justice is decommissioning the NLEAD in accordance with federal standards.”
Neither the White House nor the Justice Department provided an explanation for the decision.
Experts: Ending the Database Jeopardizes Public Safety
Police accountability advocates say shutting down the database eliminates a crucial tool for preventing “wandering officers”—law enforcement personnel who resign or are fired for misconduct, then get rehired elsewhere.
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Thomas Abt, director of the Violence Reduction Center at the University of Maryland, stated:
“Everyone, cops and communities alike, has an interest in keeping officers with histories of serious misconduct from rejoining the profession.”
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Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, noted:
“Even though databases are the bare minimum of tracking, it’s a low bar—but it’s still a bar we should have in place.”
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Trevor Hugh Davis, a research scientist at the University of Notre Dame, discovered that the database website had been removed and called the decision “a clear message about the new administration’s priorities.”
Data from a Yale Law School study found that 3% of active officers in Florida had previously been fired by another agency in the state—demonstrating the prevalence of “wandering officers” in law enforcement.
Police Groups Had Criticized the Database
Some law enforcement organizations had pushed back against the database, arguing that officers were not given due process to challenge records before being entered.
The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), a coalition representing 241,000 officers, repeatedly urged the Biden administration to limit database entries to serious misconduct cases and allow officers to contest their inclusion.
A Jan. 14 letter from NAPO executive director William J. Johnson to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland expressed frustration, stating:
“As representatives of rank-and-file officers, it is incredibly concerning that their voices are being ignored.”
Johnson did not respond to requests for comment after the database’s termination.
What’s Next?
The shutdown of NLEAD does not affect the National Decertification Index, a separate system tracking state and local officers who lost certification due to misconduct. However, that database is not federally operated and does not cover federal law enforcement officers.
While Trump’s campaign emphasized “law and order”, his administration’s move to end federal officer accountability tracking could spark renewed debate over police reform policies ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
For now, the end of NLEAD removes a key tool that agencies used to prevent hiring officers with misconduct records—raising concerns about public safety and accountability in federal law enforcement.
